Ella Risk Elementary School
949 Dexter St. Central Falls, RI 02863
(401) 727-7730
Summary Paragraph(s)
Located in the heart of Central Falls, Ella Risk Elementary School consists of grades 1 through 4 with an average of 475 students in attendance (2011). Principle Maureen Azar and Superintendent Frances Gallo made the decision in 2011 to drop Grade 5 and Kindergarten from their school. With the school being so small, it does not have a school website so very little is available for viewing about the schools program outside of the SALTS reports. As with the rest of Central Falls, the percentage of Hispanic students at the school is high. 75% of the students are Hispanic with the remaining 25% identifying with other racial backgrounds. That 25% breaks down to 64/1% white, 8.7% black, and 30% more than one race. Ella Risk mission statement is
"standards-driven teaching and learning community that promotes literacy, effective communication, problem solving, critical thinking, civic responsibility and the skills necessary for living and working in a culturally diverse society" - Principal Azar
Student Achievement
Although the school holds itself to high standards and pushes to promote literacy and skills to live and work in their community the school does not show the results they hold themselves to. The School has not passed their NECAP in three years and the schools AYP scores show very low efficiency.
Information Reported By Schools
3rd Grade Math:
NECAP: 3rd Grade
school
state
Math
34%
60%
Reading
49%
73%
4th Grade Math:
NECAP: 4th Grade
school
state
math
37%
65%
reading
41%
71%
science
6%
45%
Participation:
82.2% of the 4th and 5th graders participated in the SALTS reports
96% of the 4th graders made up the survey.
Although the year is short the improvement level in math for students between 3rd and 4th graders is not much of an improvement and are still significantly below the standard at which the state sets.
AYP Report Card
Number of Target Areas Evaluated: 3
Number of Targets Met: 0
Areas that need improvement: 3
Summary Paragraph(s)
The most recent AYP results from 2010-2011 showed not only insufficient scoring but insufficient progress since the previous years scores. The NECAP assessments form the 2011-2012 school year for the 3rd grade class was below the state average by 30% in both Math and Reading. The 4th grade class showed no signs of improvement being 30% below the state average in math and reading and almost 40% below the state average in Science.
Teaching
The students rated their teachers very highly, they gave a sufficient amount of time for projects and many of them did not feel as though they were overloaded by homework. What I did find interesting was the degree of students that felt as though their teachers were not making them "think hard" with their class work. 34.6% of students said that their teachers make them think hard only sometimes. The students also feel as though their teachers do not help them after they have missed days of school, 33.7%. According to the students, (66%) felt as if their teachers only sometimes asked them to work with other students.
Information Reported By Schools
in 2010-2011
Teachers with Emergency certification: 0%
Teachers not highly qualified: 0%
student to teacher ratio : 9:1
Information Reported by Students
Summary Paragraph(s)
The school from a teaching standpoint, ranked by the students were very much in line with that of the rest of the state. However, the qualifications that the teachers had were not at the standard of the state. Although they had their degrees, they did not have much more than that.
Family,Community, and Home Life
Information Reported By Schools
school
state
Students eligible for subsidized lunches
96%
46%
ESL or Bilingual students
21%
6%
Students receiving Special Ed. services
22%
15%
Information Reported by Students
Days a week I ate breakfast
school
state
0
1%
2.9%
1
7.8%
2.9%
2
1.9%
3.2%
3
6.8%
4.1%
4
2.9%
3.2%
5
9.7%
6.7%
6
1%
5.5%
7
68.9%
71.4%
The students although receiving breakfast in some way, has two significant places of higher percentage of days a week that breakfast is received. The marking of 5 days a week is significantly higher than the other days in the week due to the amount of students that receive breakfast at the school. So the only days a week that they receive breakfast is when they are in school.
Summary Paragraph(s)
Safe and Supportive Schools
Information Reported By Schools
Attendance by students is fairly high and in line with the rest of the state. As well as the absentee percentage, which was 1% below that of the state average (16%-17% respectively). The suspensions for the school were very low but unexpected for the grades in which the school runs. There were 2 suspensions in 2011-2012 both related to weapon possession and violence.
Although the absentee are low and attendance is high, the stability for the school was 77%, ten percent below that of the state. The mobility at the school is also high at 26% mobility which is 14% over the state percentage of 14%.
Information Reported by Students
Many of the students in the school feel as if not only do their teachers care about them but also really enjoy teaching. This reflects in the assessments they gave their teachers in the type of classroom they feel their teachers provide for them. The students also feel comfortable talking to their teachers when they need help or if they are having some type of problem. However, because of this friendly relationship that the teachers hold with their students. The teacher-student respect levels are lower than in the state, 71% of students at the school respect the teachers where as 75.6% of the state do.
There is also a relatively high rate of violence in the school considering the ages that are in the school itself.
student -student violence in the past 12 months
Ella Risk
state
gotten into a fight (hitting)
13.9%
16.7%
seen a student with a gun or knife
10.6%
12.4%
gun
30%
22.2%
knife
80%
86.5%
Summary Paragraph(s)
Changes Over the Past Decade
Previous to 2011 there was a Kindergarten and Grade 5. Due to the small number of staff and students enrolled, those grades were dropped.
Useful Sources:
The information and data below was retrieved from the following sites.
Ella Risk School (2012) Info-Works Rhode Island. http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/ella-risk-school
SALTS report, Ella Risk Elementary School, Survey Works. (2012). http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/files/surveyworks/2011-2012/combined/surveyworks-2011-2012-ella-risk-school-student-parent-teacher-es.pdf
Central Falls School District, Ella Risk Elementary School (viewed June 2013)http://www.cfschools.net/schools/ella-risk-elementary/
School Demographics and Geographical Location
Ella Risk Elementary School949 Dexter St. Central Falls, RI 02863
(401) 727-7730
Summary Paragraph(s)
Located in the heart of Central Falls, Ella Risk Elementary School consists of grades 1 through 4 with an average of 475 students in attendance (2011). Principle Maureen Azar and Superintendent Frances Gallo made the decision in 2011 to drop Grade 5 and Kindergarten from their school. With the school being so small, it does not have a school website so very little is available for viewing about the schools program outside of the SALTS reports. As with the rest of Central Falls, the percentage of Hispanic students at the school is high. 75% of the students are Hispanic with the remaining 25% identifying with other racial backgrounds. That 25% breaks down to 64/1% white, 8.7% black, and 30% more than one race. Ella Risk mission statement is"standards-driven teaching and learning community that promotes literacy, effective communication, problem solving, critical thinking, civic responsibility and the skills
necessary for living and working in a culturally diverse society" - Principal Azar
Student Achievement
Although the school holds itself to high standards and pushes to promote literacy and skills to live and work in their community the school does not show the results they hold themselves to. The School has not passed their NECAP in three years and the schools AYP scores show very low efficiency.
Information Reported By Schools
3rd Grade Math:Participation:
82.2% of the 4th and 5th graders participated in the SALTS reports
96% of the 4th graders made up the survey.
Although the year is short the improvement level in math for students between 3rd and 4th graders is not much of an improvement and are still significantly below the standard at which the state sets.
AYP Report Card
Summary Paragraph(s)
The most recent AYP results from 2010-2011 showed not only insufficient scoring but insufficient progress since the previous years scores. The NECAP assessments form the 2011-2012 school year for the 3rd grade class was below the state average by 30% in both Math and Reading. The 4th grade class showed no signs of improvement being 30% below the state average in math and reading and almost 40% below the state average in Science.Teaching
The students rated their teachers very highly, they gave a sufficient amount of time for projects and many of them did not feel as though they were overloaded by homework. What I did find interesting was the degree of students that felt as though their teachers were not making them "think hard" with their class work. 34.6% of students said that their teachers make them think hard only sometimes. The students also feel as though their teachers do not help them after they have missed days of school, 33.7%. According to the students, (66%) felt as if their teachers only sometimes asked them to work with other students.Information Reported By Schools
in 2010-2011Teachers with Emergency certification: 0%
Teachers not highly qualified: 0%
student to teacher ratio : 9:1
Information Reported by Students
Summary Paragraph(s)
The school from a teaching standpoint, ranked by the students were very much in line with that of the rest of the state. However, the qualifications that the teachers had were not at the standard of the state. Although they had their degrees, they did not have much more than that.Family,Community, and Home Life
Information Reported By Schools
Information Reported by Students
Summary Paragraph(s)
Safe and Supportive Schools
Information Reported By Schools
Attendance by students is fairly high and in line with the rest of the state. As well as the absentee percentage, which was 1% below that of the state average (16%-17% respectively). The suspensions for the school were very low but unexpected for the grades in which the school runs. There were 2 suspensions in 2011-2012 both related to weapon possession and violence.Although the absentee are low and attendance is high, the stability for the school was 77%, ten percent below that of the state. The mobility at the school is also high at 26% mobility which is 14% over the state percentage of 14%.
Information Reported by Students
Many of the students in the school feel as if not only do their teachers care about them but also really enjoy teaching. This reflects in the assessments they gave their teachers in the type of classroom they feel their teachers provide for them. The students also feel comfortable talking to their teachers when they need help or if they are having some type of problem. However, because of this friendly relationship that the teachers hold with their students. The teacher-student respect levels are lower than in the state, 71% of students at the school respect the teachers where as 75.6% of the state do.There is also a relatively high rate of violence in the school considering the ages that are in the school itself.
Summary Paragraph(s)
Changes Over the Past Decade
Previous to 2011 there was a Kindergarten and Grade 5. Due to the small number of staff and students enrolled, those grades were dropped.